The Passing of an Era
by Gamma Cavy
Summary: The world belongs to humans now.


He shifted in the heart of the light as something caught his attention. Then he smiled. It was time.

* * *

Under the stars, a group met. Two were dark haired and pale skinned, one taller than the other by some degree, another's mismatched eyes looked fondly at the tallest. The final member of the group, a tall woman with green eyes, clutched his hand more firmly. Those two had come together, but they had all felt the unseen signal.

"So, it's time." It didn't matter who said it, for they were all thinking it.

"Yes," said the one with mismatched eyes. "Finally."

"Are you two sure?" the youngest asked.

The woman laughed. "Our children are grown and have children of their own. They don't need us anymore."

"No," her husband agreed. "We've lingered too long. This world belongs to humans now."

The tallest one said nothing for a time, watching the light play one last time over the world. "Yes. The abyss is withdrawing."

The boy nodded. "The world can stand on its own, and soon passage will become impossible." Moonlight fell on them, bright and intense. They shared one last look at the world and one another, unsure of what waited for them, memorizing pale skin and golden eyes, golden hair and green eyes, a smile like the sun, violet reflecting gold and long, shaggy black hair, and twinned vermilion and topaz.

The moonlight seemed more intense. Welcoming. "Then what are we waiting for?" the tallest said, in tones of fond exasperation.

"The right moment," said the boy, as he drew the black sword, a memory of a vanished friend. The light grew brighter, and seemed less silver-pale now, more like the light of dawn. It gathered around the sword and the four figures, and to any watching eye they would have seemed ethereal, transparent and yet solid, as if they were an image imposed on the world rather then people within it. The light flashed, blindingly bright, and as it faded, the figures were gone.

* * *

Dazzling gold greeted them, and a gleeful shout, "Gil!"

There was impact and the man in question found himself abruptly tackled by two familiar weights. "Alice, Oz!" he gasped out, before all three were too busy embracing to think of speech. That could come later. The boy dropped the sword and tackled another, who appeared about his age and was scowling fiercely. "I missed you, I missed you, I missed you so much, you idiot!"

"I missed you too, blockhead. Now, give me my sword back."

As her husband pouted feeling left out of the tangle of greeting, with both his brothers occupied, Ada growled, grabbed his collar, and drew him into a searing kiss. "We made it, and you have all the time in the world to spend with them, so stop sulking."

A little to the side, three figures watched the tumult. The demure lady was wiping her eyes, "I love happy endings," she sighed. The other two shared a fond look, then the mage pushed his way into the crowd. He paused by the tumble of Alice, Oz and Gilbert to say something that left the latter looking stunned, then sauntered over to the enthusiastic couple. "Lady Ada. Sewer rat. Thank you for watching Raven. As you know, he needs it."

* * *

 **A.N. It's come to my attention that the events of this fic aren't as clear as I though they were. Oz has become the Will of the Abyss, freeing Alyss, thus the bit about 'shifting in the heart of the light.' Gil, Ada, Vincent, and Leo are the only survivors of the PH cast, consisting of three Baskervilles and one mage, who also happens to be the Will's beloved sister. He gave her long life, as it was all he could do for her, to let her stay with Vincent, and augmenting the natural longer than normal span of a mage.**

 **The four survivors are no longer needed, and ready to go, but they cannot die. Fortunately, they have the sole remaining Key to the Abyss, two of the Chains that are able to open a path, and one child of ill omen, who exist to be able to find the Core. So, sensing the power of the abyss withdrawing from the world, and knowing that if they linger any more, they will be trapped, they gather together and Leo uses the force of two Blackwinged chains in the same place, summoned or not, along with the Key and Vincent, to open the way and let them through to the Abyss.**

 **In the Abyss, Oz has exerted his power as the Will to keep all his dead friends near him, the way Alyss found the soul of her cat and gave him a human form as well as his original feline one. When the four survivors came through, they did not expect the greeting they received. They hadn't dared hope that anyone of their friends hadn't been through the reincarnation cycle, and so lost the people they'd been forever. They didn't know what Oz had done. Gil had hope that Oz would remain the same, because he was the Will now, but that was all anyone dared hope for.**


End file.
